The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times says Cyprus bailout may shake trust in banks. It also says that hunting rules will stay largely the same for this spring.
The Malta Independent quotes Franco Debono saying the PN cannot blame anyone but itself for division.
In-Nazzjon says Anglu Farrugia has said he will be Speaker of Parliament. He made his comment to a policeman when he was stopped from parking in an area reserved for MPs.
l-orizzont reports on ministerial clientelism, with a public official describing how a nurse having been allowed to work without a work contract.
The overseas press
Cypriot government officials have announced that all banks, including the stricken Laiki and Bank of Cyprus, would remain closed until Thursday. Cyprus’ Financial Mirror quotes President Nicos Anastasiades saying in an address to the nation that Cyprus had been “a breath away from economic collapse” before the deal was sealed. The final agreement was “painful” but “safeguards the prospects of our country”. He also announced the central bank would implement capital controls on transactions, emphasizing this was “a very temporary measure that will gradually be relaxed". He did not specify what limitations would be imposed on transactions. Banks have been closed since March 16 to avert a run on deposits.
Economic Times reports Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to study restructuring a €2.5-billion-loan to Cyprus despite anger that the weekend rescue deal would impose heavy losses on uninsured depositors, many of them Russian. Moscow had extended the loan to Cyprus in 2011 and it is scheduled to be paid back by 2016. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had earlier criticised the bailout deal, accusing the EU of theft. Rossiya TV even likened the forced levy imposed on wealthy investors, many of them Russian, to the expropriation of Jews by Nazi Germany.
Sky News says a post-mortem into the death of Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky has found the cause of death to be “consistent with hanging” and there was nothing to indicate a violent struggle. Further tests are now due to be carried out. The results of those tests, including toxicology and histology examinations, are likely to take several weeks.
The European Union has suspended the majority of its sanctions against Zimbabwe after it held a “peaceful, successful and credible” constitutional referendum. Global Post says the decision removes restrictions against 81 people and eight firms, but President Robert Mugabe and two companies, including a state-run diamond miner, remain on the list. The new constitution, which was approved by nearly 95 per cent of voters, limits the powers of the presidency after 33 years of Mugabe rule.
Ansa reports an Italian court has upheld a seven-year prison sentence on former senator Marcello Dell’Utri for mediating between former premier Silvio Berlusconi and the Sicilian Mafia in the 1970s. Dell’Utri, 71, was accused of playing the middle man between the criminal association and billionaire Berlusconi, who the court said paid out large amounts of protection money in the 1970s to prevent attacks on his family.
An Nahar says the head of the Free Syrian Army, Colonel Riad al-Asaad, has been seriously wounded in the explosion of a car bomb, activists said Monday, His right foot has been amputated following the blast. Meanwhile, according to VOA, the Jihadist Jabhat al-Nusra militia has managed to secure weapons being supplied by Saudi Arabia and Qatar to rebel brigades affiliated to the Free Syrian Army. The Obama administration considers al-Nusra a terrorist organisation because of suspected links with al-Qaida.
ABC reports Yahoo has secured the rights to an app created by a British-Australian teenager in a deal reported to be worth tens of millions of dollars. Called Summly, the app aggregates news in quick bites for smartphones. It was created by 17-year-old Nick D'Aloisio two years ago from his London home. The app will now close, but its technology is to be used in Yahoo mobile products and Mr D'Aloisio will become Yahoo's youngest employee.
The official Xinhua news agency says at least 1,000 dead ducks have been found floating in a Chinese river just days after Shanghai said it had almost finished recovering at more than 16,000 deceased pigs from its main waterway. The ducks were fished out of a section of river by authorities in the south-western Chinese province of Sichuan. They were then buried in plastic bags three metres underground.
A former live-in caretaker of a mansion in Pittsburgh faces criminal charges for allegedly drinking more than $100,000 worth of the owner’s whisky. Police told The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that John Saunders drank dozens of bottles whiskey valued at $102,400 by a New York auction house. The 62-year-old was charged with receiving stolen property and theft. Saunders initially denied drinking the whisky when questioned by police, but DNA linked him to three of the empty bottles. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.